21 October 2011

The other day I was catching up on watching episodes of Boardwalk Empire. There was a scene where Nucky asks Margaret if she's ever seen Paris and she replied no. I started thinking about what Paris would have looked like had she visited in 1920. The closest thing I could think of was the photography of Eugène Atget. Atget was a French photographer that was known for documenting street scenes and the architecture of early 20th century Paris.

My favorites, which I've included in this post, feature some of the inhabitants (both living and inanimate) of the Great City, as he lovingly referred to Paris. If you delve further into his archives you'll discover many photographs that display seemingly abandoned streets and buildings void of any signs of life. It seems easy to me to imagine Nucky and Margaret inhabiting those empty spaces.

I love Atget. I live in Paris, and it's a very strange thing to discover Paris around 100 years ago... the city changed so much, and it's sometimes weird to walk in those streets and try to find street corners which disappeared completely today... though, the street I live in (Rue au Maire) hasn't changed at all...